Non-conference schedule rankings

It’s easy to argue about the best non-conference schedule or the best single non-conference games in college football.

Instead, let’s turn the argument to this reality: Of the 235 non-conference games among the Power 5 conferences, more than 70 percent are against teams in the Group of 5 conferences or the FCS.

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Give Nick Saban credit. For all the grief the Alabama coach gets off the field (you know who you are, Hurry Up No Huddle people), Saban is the guy who wanted nine league games in the SEC and everyone in the Power 5 to play everyone else in the non-conference schedule.

If Saban had things his way, every game would be a game against a Power 5 school, instead of the 28 percent it currently stands at (66 games of 235 possible). You know, sort of like the NFL — where there are no gimme putts.

The closest we get to that is Florida State, the defending national champion and the team with the best non-conference schedule. The ‘Noles play an eight-game ACC schedule, but also get the ½-ACC game by playing host to ACC part-timer Notre Dame.

FSU also has games against Big 12 heavyweight Oklahoma State (in Houston) and SEC power Florida. Meanwhile, back in the world of the coach we love to criticize: his team plays West Virginia in one of the 10 best non-conference games of the year — but the rest of the Tide’s non-conference schedule is putrid.